Mail-chute.



F. B. COOK.

MAIL CHUTE APPLICATION FILED JUNE 12, 191 RENEWED MAR. 28.1918.

1,293,3&5 Patented Feb. 4. 1919.

2 S'HEETSSHEIET 1.

llTl l |"1.

F. B. COOK.

MAIL CHUTE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 12. 1914- RENEWED MAR. 28.1918.

Patented Feb. 4, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SH EET 2.

2 1th body 92 the chats so pitises a the!" vertical movement of said UNITED STATES PATENT OFFXCE.

FREDERICK B. COOK, or nnw yonx, N. Y.

' MAIL-OHUTE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 4:, 1919.

Appli at on filed Jun .12, 1 9. s1 No- 44 R n a arc 2. 818- S ial No- 22 3 2 To all wh m it may concern: I

Be it known that I, FREDERICK B. C OK, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of the borough of Manhattan in the city of New York, county and State of New York, have invented certain new useful Improvements in Mail-Chutes, of which the following is a specification.

In mail-chutes of that type in which the front of the chute is removable in sections,

the same being attached by means of a plurality of hooks upon the removable sections which enter corresponding openings in the body of the mail-chute, difliculty has been experienced in conveniently removing, handling and replacing the removable frontwall sections. The object of thepresent in vention is to provide means for reducing the handling and care of the frontswall heretofore necessary, and permitting the same to b readily replaced in position upon the body of the chute. For this purpose the front-wall is hinged at one ofits vertical edges to he body o th h e, n h hinges are so made as to permit a limited front-Wall Wherey the hook f the same may he disengaged remand reengagcd i h he body of h hute. The hingl a e a so so c ns ru ted as to support thefrontrwall in raised position, so that when the same swings into closing position, it is at the same time in raised Po tion and the hooks rea ily ent h openings provided for them,

,11 th accompanying drawing Fignlie l is a front-view of. a mail-chute mbody g he invention,

F r g-12 is a front i w of a port on of h hute, sho ng on o the fro 't wall se i n in open position, i Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line 3+3, ig-'1, n an enlarged scale,

4 is a ntal sect on, showing h rontwall in open P si ion,

Fig,- 5 is a tail of h hing Figs. 6 and 7 show the front-wall dlsengaged from and engaged with the body of the chute r pe tiv y, and

F g- 8 is a h rizonta se t on on ine 8-8, Fig. 1 on a larger scal sh ing the looking mem er by whi h the nd idual fro twall se ions are look d aga ns remov l- Similar reference numeral indicat -c rrespon in pa t throughout th se era views.

hi h a ita le look hg mechani m alllO, sidewall 11 and 12, and jam s 13, 1s f med t th nt-po on o the sid ls by int rning th m tal th c f- Th f nt wall i mposed f a umbe of ver ial s cti ns of conv nt h ight, ea h c mprising a r me hay ng side m mb r 1.5., 16 betwe n w h the gl s p n 17 is h d, and from wh ch proje t inwardly-downiiiincd h oks 1.8 which arc d pted o e i s or espondingly-spa e open ngs 1 i the ianibs 13, 14 of he body o th chute- ,To the body of he hut secured by any suitable means the pintle-sections of two hinge 2.0, 1,. the rr p n ing eaf-sections of which are s cur d to the sec i n 2 o th front-Wa l hich s to be supp rted- E pintle-sectioh c mprises a ers ipporting membe 23, upper s ppor ing member 2%., ands p lo 25. etween said upper and l w r mem ers. A s rew 26 in th upper member 2% e ures the per end of the Pin lc, wh le wo sc ws i i th l w r membe 23 se u e the low r en of th pintl a d prevent it rota ion,- T c pin l i provide at its upper portion with two the ftontw l sc ion .22 s in op n pos ti a lug 30 is rec ived in he re ess 29 o the pintle. hen the front-wall section is 1 a i m iat p s tion, said 111g 30 res i p l the t p o the enl rged porti n o th P n l d t r y s pports he f ont-wall section 2 in r ised po it on, a indicated in dotted lines in Fig.5. 7 i

When the all s ct on .22 i in closed position, as is seen in Fig. 1, it is retained aga n tic l mo m nt by a l cking m m compr sing a cro s-ba yithih 1S 0 t t d by a y h o gh he k yh le a l "at th o tc of th ba dap ed to throw th bolts 42 l tera ly outwardly into openings 4:. in the 1' amiss Ths bolts thereby hold the lo king ember in pos tion, While the em e itself s arranged t rtically the ame Plans with he front-Wall se tion '2 n c ose a os th top ther of, een in 'Fig. 1, so that any lifting of the front-wall section 22 is rendered impossible by its abutihcnt aga n t the locking mem er,-

Whs ii -i des ed t pen f th chats to; any m mosa the lock ng heather 4:0 located above the section to be opened, is unlocked and removed. The section 22 is then bodily lifted, which is permitted by the vertical play in the hinges 20 and 21, whole by the lug 30 is raised out of the slot 28, and upon the front-wall section now being partially opened, said lug rests upon the top of the enlarged portion of the pintle 25. Upon now swinging farther open the section 22, the same is finally brought into the position shown in Fig. 4. In this position the lug 30 is brought opposite the recess 29, which it enters, thereby lowering the section 22 and locking the same against rotation in either direction. The section 22 is thereby held out of the way of workmen who may be engaged in repairing the chute or in clearing the same, does not require to be bodily set to one side and care taken of it lest it fall and be brokenas is the case in chutes having completely detachable sections, is always retained in connection with its own proper portion of the body of the chute, so that there is never any question as to which particular part of the chute any particular section of front-wall belongs upon, andis conveniently held ready for prompt replacement when desired. For closing the section 22 upon the body of the chute, the section is lifted so as to cause the lug 30 to clear the recess 29 and the section is then swung back into closed position, the same being supported, until in close proximity to the jamb 13, by the lug 3O riding upon the enlarged portion of the pintle 25. In this raised position the hooks 18 are opposite the upper part of the openings 19, as seen in Fig. 6. pon finally closing the section 22 against the jamb 13, the hooks 18 enter the openings, the lug 30 enters the recess 28, and the section 22 is free to drop, which it does, the hooks 18 guiding by their beveled inner faces 14: the front-wall section 22 into close contact with the jamb 13 and retaining the same in such contact, as indicated in Fig. 7 The locking member 40 ,may now be replaced and that particular portion of the chute is again in condition for use.

. The hinges described, by retaining the front-wall section in proximity to the bodyportion and at the same time preventing the during the operations same from closing carried onupon the chute, increase the facility of repair and inspection of the chute, and enhance the usefulness of the chute as a means of collecting mail. I

' a One embodiment of the invention has been described, but it is obvious that changes may be made therein Without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the claims. 7 V I I claim: 7 Y p 1. A mail-chute, comprising a body portion, consisting of a rear and side walls, a front wall, means securing said front wall to adapted to permlt lowering of said front wall when swung through, a predetermined angle relatively to said body portion, said means adapted to positively prevent swinging of said front wall in either direction in said lowered position. i

2. A mail-chute, comprising a body portion having jambs at its front edges, a series of openings in said jambs, a front wall section having at its edges a' series of downturned hooks spaced to enter said openings of said jambs, and a hinge connection between said body portion and said front wall section, comprising a pintle member having an enlarged portion and two vertical slots therein, and a leaf member having a lug adapted to engage said slots, said, pintle being of such length as to permit the vertical movement of the leaf member thereon sufiiciently for the disengagement of said hooks from said openings, and said slots being so located as to receive the lug of the leaf member when the front'wall section is in closed position and when the same is in one position of opening.

3. A mail-chute, comprising a body-portion having jambs at its front-edges, a series of openings in said jambs, a front-wall section having at its edges a series of downturned hooks spaced to enter said openings of said jambs, two hinges connecting said body-portion and said front-wall section,

one hinge at the upper portion of the sec tion and one hinge at the .lower portion member having an enlarged portion and two vertical slots therein and a leaf member having a lug adapted to engage said slots, said pintle being of such the vertical movement of the leaf member thereon sufficiently for the disengagement of said hooks from said openings, and said slots being so located as to receive the lug of the leaf member when the front wall section is in closed position and when the same is in one position of opening.

4:. A mail-chute, comprising a body-portionhaving jambs at its front-edges, a series of openings in said jam'bs, a front-wall section having at its edges a series of downturned hooks spaced to enter said openings of said jambs, two hinges connecting said body-portion and said front-wall section, one hinge at the upper portion of the section and one hinge at the lower portion-thereof, each hinge comprising a pintle member havlength as to permit ing an enlarged portion and two vertical said pintle the leaf member When the front-Wall section is in closed position and When the same is in one position of opening, and a transverse locking member extending across the body-portion immediately above said front-Wall section and in the same vertical plane therewith, and having means for locking the same against vertical movement to the jambs at either side of the body-portion.

5. A mail-chute,

tion provided with jambs at its front edges, a front Wall portion adapted to engage said jambs, one of said portions having a series of openings, and the other a series of hooks adapted to enter said openings, and a hinge connection between said body portion and said front Wall portion, said hinge connection comprising a pintle member and a leaf member, one of said members being pro vided with tWo vertical elements, and the other With an element adapted to register with the first named elements, the elements on the two members being respectively of the lug and slot character, said pintle being comprising a body porof such length as to permit a vertical movement of the front Wall sufficient to disengage said hooks from the corresponding openings, and said tWo elements on the one member being so located as to register with the ele ment on the other member when the front Wall is in closed position and When it is in one position of opening.

6. A mail-chute, comprising a body portion and a front Wall portion adapted to en gage said body portion, a hinge connecting said front Wall portion With said body portion and permitting vertical movement of the front Wall portion relatively to the body portion, and mating hooks and openings provided on said portions, the hooks having beveled faces to cause the front Wall portion to perform a final swinging movement on its hinge as said front Wall portion moves vertically to the closing position, to draw said Wall portion into tight engagement With the body portion.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

FREDERICK B. COOK.

Witnesses:

F. Hoes, Jos. BISBANO.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

